This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected studies on environmental issues prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal authors are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language English or French with a summary in the other if available.

The relationships between agriculture, the environment, and development are deep and complex. By
2050 a 70 per cent increase in production will be needed to feed an additional 2.7 billion people on an
already degraded natural resource base. In light of this and amid the realities of climate change, the
agricultural sector is now coming to terms with its potential role for contributing to – rather than
diminishing - environmental, institutional, social and economic resilience.
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of environmental management and
governance in the agricultural sector; to present environmental goals, requirements, entry points, and
strategies/approaches to capacity development for the environment (CDE) in this sector; and to discuss
implications for donors. The focus is on CDE in a developing country context.
The paper recognises that CDE must be seen as part of an endogenous process of change, and that it
must operate at multiple levels: the enabling environment, the organisation, and the individual. The paper
argues that CDE should focus on the sustainable production and provision of sufficient, safe, and nutritious
food that simultaneously builds and reinforces ecosystem resilience, leading to equitable and economically
viable livelihoods at an adequate scale. The paper links these concepts to the country systems approach to
development assistance advocated in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.